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Rubkona fire, November 2017 Rubkona, Pariang, Abiemnhom

Out · last detection 28 Nov 2017, 10:42 UTC

The fire started on 20 November 2017 in Rubkona, South Sudan, and satellites saw it burning for 9 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 32,169 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

It is the 3th largest in Unity since 2016 (of 85 with a page). Number 6 in South Sudan in 2017, of 203.

Burnt area
32,169ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
9days
20 Nov 2017 – 28 Nov 2017
Municipalities hit
3
counties
Started on
20 Nov
2017
Heat detections
978
in a single hotspot: 132 MW
Danger at start
45
Very high · FWI index
Energy released
6.7GW
sum of detected power

Where it burned

28 Nov 2017
HOTSPOTS BY DAY 20 Nov28 Nov

How it evolved, day by day

202122232425262728

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

The weather it burned in

40°high
39km/h · peak gust
8%lowest humidity

It had gone 19 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started.

This area had burned before

43% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 16,910 ha in 2016. Part of it burned more than once, so the yearly figures add up to more than the 13,937 ha that had burned before.

What happened to each town

  1. Rubkona where it started
    27,099 ha reached on 20 Nov
    7.6 %
  2. Pariang
    2,946 ha reached on 23 Nov
    0.3 %
  3. Abiemnhom
    2,346 ha reached on 21 Nov
    1.0 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance is from the town centre to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

The weather day by day

ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
20 Nov 39.6 °C 13 % 24 km/h 0.0 mm Very high 45
21 Nov 39.2 °C 12 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 51
22 Nov 38.1 °C 9 % 39 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
23 Nov 37.1 °C 8 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 58
24 Nov 36.5 °C 10 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
25 Nov 37.1 °C 11 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
26 Nov 37.5 °C 11 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
27 Nov 37.6 °C 12 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
28 Nov 38.4 °C 16 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
29 Nov after 38.3 °C 18 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
30 Nov after 38.9 °C 14 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 57
1 Dec after 37.7 °C 11 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
2 Dec after 37.9 °C 12 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
3 Dec after 38.6 °C 13 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
4 Dec after 39.5 °C 14 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 54
5 Dec after 39.7 °C 13 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
6 Dec after 40.1 °C 12 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
7 Dec after 38.8 °C 13 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
8 Dec after 38.0 °C 15 % 37 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 63
9 Dec after 38.7 °C 15 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
10 Dec after 39.6 °C 13 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 55
11 Dec after 40.0 °C 12 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
12 Dec after 39.7 °C 10 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 53
13 Dec after 39.1 °C 12 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 56
14 Dec after 38.8 °C 12 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 60
15 Dec after 38.5 °C 11 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Extreme 61

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 13 Nov 2017
After · 5 Dec 2017

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

Detections table · 978Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in South Sudan ›

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Rubkona fire last?
GWIS (Copernicus) dates it between 20 November 2017 and 28 November 2017: 9 days between the first and last heat detection of the perimeter.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 32,169 hectares (321.7 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Rubkona (27,099 ha, 7.6 %); Pariang (2,946 ha, 0.3 %); Abiemnhom (2,346 ha, 1.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 39.7 °C, humidity dropped to 8 % and gusts hit 39 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 58, class Extreme.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of South Sudan (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.

Where to verify it

A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.

Satellite cross-check

Does something look wrong on this page?

This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.

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Where this data comes from

The perimeter comes from the Copernicus Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which rebuilds it from MODIS and VIIRS heat detections and publishes it under CC BY 4.0. It is not measured on imagery as in Europe, so it is an estimate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Municipal boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM2 (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Intergovernmental Organisations (CC BY 3.0 IGO)). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ from each country’s official figure.